Israelis and Palestinians clash at al-Aqsa mosque

Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police at East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound Oct. 9, leaving three officers lightly injured, according to police. Israeli authorities said the clashes erupted after several dozen masked Palestinians began throwing stones, fire crackers and other pyrotechnical devices at police when al-Aqsa mosque opened for prayers. Police chased the demonstrators towards the mosque, where they barricaded themselves inside and continued hurling objects toward the police, authorities said. Palestinian sources said the clash erupted after dozens of Israelis tried to invade the mosque while marking the Sukkot feast. They said soldiers threw tear-gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated bullets at the Palestinians in the complex and even into the interior of the mosque. (IMEMC, Al Jazeera, Oct. 8)

Also Oct. 9, dozens of Palestinian farmers and Israeli settlers clashed in the Yanun valley near Aqraba village south of Nablus. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an News Agency that several Israeli settlers from Itamar attacked dozens of Palestinian farmers and attempted to steal their olive crop, which belongs to the Abu Rinan family. In 2013, there were 399 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (Ma'an)